Sabotage and a finished sweater (finally)

Here I was, hoping to get my dad's sweater done this weekend  but my cat nixed that idea...

He's a pretty ferocious cat so, of course, I couldn't disturb him for fear he'd chew my hand off  (at least that's what I tried to tell my dad. I don't think he believed me though)

At least I was able to get another sweater done (it's for a 1 yr old so it wasn't a huge chore anyway )

Color Inspiration

Ever heard of William Morris ? I LOVE his color combinations and have bought a book of his designs. I'm wanting to get into color knitting and will use the book as my inspiration. I figure he combined colors way better than I ever could!

I think this is one of my favorites:

I am currently in a sweater knitting frenzy; my frenzy is pretty small as I'm just on the 3rd sweater of my knitting career. Still, it feels like a huge accomplishment to me to have not only completed one sweater but am now on my 3rd.

The brown striped one is my second sweater, knitted out of hempathy using the generic top down pattern of Barbara Walker's. The blue sweater that I'm currently knitting is a bottom up generic pattern from Elizabeth Zimmerman. I'm not sure I'm convinced on bottom up yet but we'll see. I learned that Hempathy doesn't hide mistakes as well as wool does, but it's a heck of a lot more comfortable to wear this time of year.

Spinning and a birthday boy

I'm participating in the Tour de Fleece over on Ravelry to motivate myself to do more spinning. Here's my first day results (not much, I know, but I'm still building my endurance)
I'm spinning some lovely shetland roving from the most generous animal named Bristol who lives at  Foothill Fiber Farms. It's a nice off-white and gray/back mix, which I might ply with some lighter colored rambouillet. I bought 8 oz so we will see how much I end up with. I've never bought more than 4 oz of any one color and I want more to make something or part of something I can wear. Bristol would appreciate that, wouldn't she?!
As if it weren't enough that today if 4th of July, my little baby Eli is turning one today:

 Yes, he's a little annoyed because I'm wasting time taking his picture instead of plopping another scoop of cat food on his plate. He's refusing to look at me! I love him anyway

Can you believe it? Finally...

Yes, after a year and a half of unemployment, I have finally landed a job. A nice job working for a nice company. I haven't gotten the confirmation email yet so I hope I didn't imagine it. I have two weeks to get everything done I was supposed to get done over the past year and a half. I will also have to squeeze in some knitting, of course.

I won this wonderful yarn and shawl pattern from Wandering Cat Studio :

Valerie had a contest on her  blog. This yarn is-to-die-for in alpaca, wool and silk. It will look gorgeous knit up into Valerie's pattern Eostre. I can't wait to get started on this.

I thought I had a good start on my second sweater, a cardigan knit from Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top. As I got about half way down the sweater it ended up being too big. So, rip it out I did. I am trying again, with revised measurements. Hopefully this time around it will be a better fit.

I really did it!

I can't believe I actually finished a sweater, for me, and it fits! I used Barbara Walker's Top Down Sweaters book and took measurements as I went along. My next challenge will be a cardigan, style it after a pattern I have that is knit in pieces. I love this book as the sweater is knit all in one piece: no seams!!

I've been trying to use up stash but most of my yarn is enough fingering for socks, so I may have to break down and get some more yarn. I'm tired of making socks and since I had success with this sweater I'm excited to start another one.

Have I mentioned I like orchids? I went to an orchid society meeting with some friends a few months ago and fell in love with all the gorgeous orchids there. They have a silent auction so it's easy to pick up some plants pretty cheaply. This last meeting I scored 7 plants for a total of $20! A member is moving and was wanting to weed her collection out so I paid $6 for 5 of her plants.

It's easy to become an addict and want just a few more. They are fairly easy to take care of (meaning I haven't killed any yet in the 3 months I got my first one).

Sweater?

I'm finally taking the plunge and making a sweater for myself. I've made a few sweaters before, a long time ago when I didn't realize the meaning of gauge. I'm following the generic pattern in Barbara Walker's book Knitting from the Top. I didn't write down as many notes as I should have making the first sleeve, so I'm struggling a bit on the second one, for some unknown reason. Still, it's an easy and clear cut way to make a sweater and I have high hopes it will really fit!

We had a beautiful day, finally, yesterday here in Stumptown. The sun was out and it was warm; the pussycats were in 7th heaven!

Look what I got!

I went to my favorite local knitting store and whined about my circular needles. Cindy at Urban Fiber Arts whipped out some hiya hiya interchangeables and I'm in love! They screw together so smoothly and have a great little carrying case. Lucky me!

I've picked up knitting again after giving it a few month's rest. I've been trying to decide how to knit up this delicious Socks That Rock Sassafrass yarn and found the pattern Spring Forward. I love this pattern even more now than I'm knitting on it-it's wonderfully stretchy and fits the yarn well, I think:

I just love it!

Here's a photo that cracks me up: it's Eli a few months older now and still a big nut!

I think his papa was a jackrabbit!